8: Going on a First Date

Lena and Kara's two year anniversary is coming up, and Kara really wants to do something special for her girlfriend. She wants something sweet and fun and nostalgic, something that will make Lena smile but won't be too overbearing. She considers filling Lena's office with flowers, but that might just remind her of less positive times.

Kara taps her pen rhythmically against the metallic edge of her desk, producing a nice, clear, comforting sound, and digs through her memory for some inspiration.

Their first ever date, maybe?

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Kara was visiting Lena in her office after Lena had asked her out two days earlier, ostensibly for a comment on a story, but really, just to squeeze some information out of her about her plans for their date.

"So, uh… what's the itinerary for our date?" Kara asked, utilizing her superhuman capacity for subtlety.

Lena smirked and just looked at her for several seconds. Kara felt an involuntary shiver run down her spine. "Oh, don't worry," Lena said, lowering her voice in a – conspiratorial? Seductive? Vaguely threatening? – way. "I have some very interesting plans for you."

"Okay," Kara squeaked. "That sounds – okay."

"Great. I'll pick you up Friday at eight. Oh, by the way, don't bring any cash, credit, bus pass, personal identification, or magnetic card of any kind. And no weaponry will be necessary." Lena laughed cheerfully. "Obviously."

"Wow," Kara said. "Where exactly are we going, remind me?"

Lena winked at her. "Come and find out," she said, and then actually, in real life, licked her own lower lip.

Kara wasn't completely sure she was going to get out of this alive.

"You're not getting out of that alive, you know that, right?" Alex informed her over the phone that evening. "I have never in my life heard of a more obvious death trap."

"It's not a death trap," Kara scoffed. It didn't sound totally convincing, though, so she rolled her eyes in a demonstration of how utterly not worried at all she was.

"'Hey, Supergirl, come with me, a Luthor, completely alone and without any backup, to an unspecified location of my choosing, wear something probably skimpy that will be impractical to carry anything useful in, and, oh, don't bring any money or ID,'" Alex said in an obnoxious high pitched voice that sounded nothing like Lena. "She might as well have asked you to shave down your own fingerprints in advance."

Kara sighed. "She doesn't know I'm Supergirl," she admitted sullenly.

"She – what?" Alex demanded. "So you were just planning on going on a date with her under false pretenses? Kara, she's your friend in both identities. This isn't fair to her."

"So now you're worried about her?"

"As a big sister, I'm totally capable of being simultaneously worried for and suspicious of the same person."

Kara smiled. She loves her sister a lot. "I know you are. I really wanted to tell her. But she just asked me out, and seemed so nervous, and then so relieved when I said yes… she had tears in her eyes, Alex. I didn't know where to squeeze in a confession. I was planning on telling her first thing on our date."

"All right," Alex concedes, "I guess in that case she doesn't have that much of a motive to lure you into a death trap. Unless she's figured it out herself, which we can't rule out. I'll have a team on standby, and please wear something sensible, okay?"

"No problem," Kara agreed. "I was planning on butching it up a little anyway."

Alex snorted. "Try not to break her heart, either. I kinda like her. Unless she's trying to kill you, in which case, do."

Kara laughed and saluted, then remembered she was on the phone. "Roger that."

That Friday, Lena arrived predictably early; less predictably, she was riding a motorcycle.

"Oh, wow, is that a Yamaha? My sister would be jealous," Kara commented as she took the helmet Lena handed her.

"Hm? Oh, I don't even know. It's not mine," Lena told her, taking off her own helmet to flash Kara a bright smile.

"Whose is it, then?"

Lena shrugged. "You know, I didn't really care to find out. The important thing is that it can't be traced back to me."

"Uh," Kara said, hesitating, then shook her head. "All right. Lena, before we go anywhere, there's something I need to tell you." Lena frowned, and Kara touched her shoulder in a preemptive steadying gesture. "I'm Supergirl."

"Oh, I know that," Lena said, without missing a beat.

"You – you do?"

"Yes, of course. I am capable of recognizing your voice, Kara. Very capable, in fact. It's really quite lovely. I think about it quite a – uh." Lena blushed and awkwardly cleared her throat. "I'm sorry. I like your voice. That was probably a weird thing to say."

Kara bit her lip, glancing away. "No, um. It was – nice."

Lena smiled at her dopily, put her helmet on and kicked the bike into gear.

So Lena knew Kara is Supergirl. Had known all along that Kara is Supergirl. And Kara felt no particular urge to get off the bike right now, immediately, and never turn back. So either Alex or Lena were probably going to kill her, but, really, Lena's giddy smile was definitely worth it.

The drive was surprisingly long, and the noise of the wind whipping against them didn't allow for much conversation. Kara was mostly content to let her thoughts wander, and only very occasionally ogle the sliver of bare skin of Lena's nape visible between her helmet and jacket.

That is, until they swerved down a path on an open concrete site that led directly underground, crossed through an enormous, completely vacant parking area, and stopped in front of a row of massive elevators. At which point, Kara was decidedly not content to silently ponder anymore.

"What is this place?" she asked, watching Lena call up an elevator apprehensively.

"A defunct LuthorCorp laboratory," Lena said before walking into what appeared to be a tiny closet and returning with two enormous packages, one of which she handed to Kara. "Here's your biohazard suit. I know you're invulnerable and such, but you can't be too careful on a first date, can you? Oh, and do you have any metal on you by any chance? Keys, belt, hearing aid, dental implants? Because they would have to be removed. Don't worry, I have some medical clamps right here."

"I – uhhh –"

"Kidding! I'm just kidding." Lena laughed strangely, waving the suit helmet in her hand. "I'm sorry, I make bad jokes when I'm nervous. I really very badly want this to be fun for you." She touched Kara's hand gently, the most endearing hopeful smile on her face. "Shall we go in?"

Kara could practically hear Alex's voice in her head. 'Sure, walk right into a fucking LuthorCorp lab, which is apparently also biologically hazardous, on top of everything else. Definitely doesn't sound anything like a death trap at all whatsoever.'

On the other hand, Lena's hand was still brushing against hers, and she really wanted to hold it. And maybe kiss it. And then kiss Lena.

"Sure," Kara said.

Lena beamed at her, and took her hand, and led her into the elevator and down eleven floors, and helped her get into the suit. And so began their bizarre, supervillain-themed version of a museum date.

"Here you can see the human bone strength enhancement prototype machine. Oh, and over there are all the splatters on the wall left from when the human bone strength enhancement prototype machine exploded.

"Fun fact, Luthor Corp's primary export, a biometric security device for cars, collected all its users' fingerprints and stored the information on this server here. As far as I can tell it was used primarily for identity theft and money laundering. Of course the database was destroyed after Lex's arrest.

"Ooh, I've wanted to show you this for a long time. This is the disastrous thought-scrambling machine. According to the files I could find, the intent was to interfere directly with a person's brainwaves in order to cause confusion. Why Lex ever thought this could work, I have no idea.

"Kara, look! You'll love this one. This is the chamber where they tried to recreate the deadliest, most toxic plants in the universe. Fortunately, due to corrupted genetic data, the plants became highly corrosive and melted down the machinery tending to them.

"Did you know Luthor Corp was close to developing a neurotoxin that could kill only the parts of the human brain responsible for the ability to recognize individual faces? I thought you'd find that interesting."

In all honesty, everything that Lena had shown her really was fascinating, and Kara couldn't say she wasn't enjoying this tour of horrifying failed experiments, and it was obvious from Lena's demeanor that her enthusiasm had its roots in simple scientific interest and pure schadenfreude, but Kara just couldn't help asking:

"Lena… you do realize how that sounds, um, incredibly menacing…?"

Lena jumped, turning to stare at her, wide eyed. "Mena—oh, no, oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" she gushed. "Have I been – scaring you all this time? Oh, Kara, I'm so – I was just trying to flirt!"

Lena looked so contrite, almost anguished, wringing her hands and gazing soulfully at Kara. Kara just looked at her for a moment. Then burst out laughing.

"I'll stop," Lena was saying. "Immediately. I hope I haven't completely ruined this. Could we start over?"

She held out her hand. Kara grinned at her, and took it, and pulled Lena into a squeaky, bulky, hazmat-suited hug. "I have a better idea," she said. "Let's get out of here so we can ditch the suits and make out."

And Lena nodded so enthusiastically at that, Kara was sure her headgear was going to fly right off.

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Kara shakes her head. On second thought, maybe none of that is really applicable. She's not going to be doing any of… that. Forcing her girlfriend into an unwieldy hazmat suit, dragging her to an old irradiated illegal testing site and scaring the crap out of her multiple times in succession isn't the kind of romantic anniversary date Kara has in mind.

It is a nice memory, though.